Halloween Party

[Catzle]

From other internet sources I have heard that they are not checking bands for the party and its extremely busy and you can barely walk around.

I have never been and have no idea how it works but we are going Nov. 1 and flying in just for the weekend.

Anyone have a recent experience on this year as to whether you can confirm its extremely crowded and you can't can't much of anything done and they are not checking bands?

I also heard lines are over 1/2 hour long to "trick or treat"?

We are very excited and are so looking forward to this party and would rather know upfront what we need to prepare ourselves for so we are not let down.

[Strmchsr]

They are checking bands and clearing the parks. However, it is extremely busy. Most parties, even in September, having been selling out. They will be even more the case in October. They don't cap the numbers nearly as low as they used to so crowds are huge at the parties. Just know up front that you'll need to decide if there's certain characters you want to meet (Jack and Sally generally have a 60-90 min wait for instance) or if you want to trick or treat. I wouldn't worry about rides. Too much else to do and not enough time to do it all.

[garymacd]

We just returned home last night. We attended the party last Sunday night. There were lots of people, but we didn`t find the wait times too bad. We rode BTMRR three times in a row with little more than a five to ten minute load time.

I do know the party on the Tuesday night sold out. We didn`t even try for tickets that night.

As for bands, they did clear the park. but no one made a production of checking them.

[Terra]

We were there last night! :) It wasn't that crowded to me. Honestly I think regular non party days seem much more crowded. And we go quite regularly.
Many things were walk on or 5-10 minutes. We're not much into seeing the characters so can't comment on that. The candy lines moved fast.
They did band checks a few times at different places.

[Wilderness guy]

We were there Tuesday night, and yes it was very crowded. Still, it was a lot of fun. The parade was great and the fireworks were fantastic even by Disney standards. The one big down side for me was the Hocus Pocus stage show. You couldn't see it unless you were between the Partners statue and the castle. I'm 6 ft and I couldn't see most of. My 5'4" wife missed it all. I would say, skip the show and have fun doing other things. That's what I plan to do next year.

[MrPeetrie]

We were there two tuesdays ago and it was sold out. Very crowded everywhere. Long lines for candy, but they moved quickly.

Sanderson Sisters' show was amazing, but shoulder to shoulder. If you had little ones, you had to keep them close.

Haunted Mansion was 25 minutes. All other rides (except Seven Dwarfs) were very manageable. Despite the heavy crowd, you could definitely ride attractions.

Surprised to see MNSSHP merchandise on shelves prior to 7:00 pm though. That was odd.

[NJGIRL]

From other internet sources I have heard that they are not checking bands for the party and its extremely busy and you can barely walk around.

I have never been and have no idea how it works but we are going Nov. 1 and flying in just for the weekend.

Anyone have a recent experience on this year as to whether you can confirm its extremely crowded and you can't can't much of anything done and they are not checking bands?

I also heard lines are over 1/2 hour long to "trick or treat"?

We are very excited and are so looking forward to this party and would rather know upfront what we need to prepare ourselves for so we are not let down.


Not true on all counts....at least the night we went...Sunday Sept 20th.

I have been to probably a dozen parties but will fill you in on this years experience only.

They do check bands....you might not notice but they are looking for them. my band got stuck under my shirt sleeve and a cast member questioned me before letting me on BTRR.

The "trick" to trick or treating at the party is and always has been to ride the attractions and wait until around 830 to 900 before standing in the lines....even if you do it early and the lines are long, they usually move fast because each line has 2 candy drums.

Attraction wait times are extremely short with the exception of the Haunted Mansion. lol.......We rode the rollercoasters and buzz one after another...basically walk throughs.

Tip.....The best place for candy this year is the Tiki Room.....One line with four candy stops in it!!!

Did notice that this year they were a little tight with the amounts they were handing out.......As the night goes on you will get fists full...instead of two pieces

[Crow]

I will be at WDW the last night of the party. Nov 1st and am thinking about it. seems exp and i have been to it once yrs ago but my gf hasnt

[NJGIRL]

I will be at WDW the last night of the party. Nov 1st and am thinking about it. seems exp and i have been to it once yrs ago but my gf hasnt




Basically the party has not changed in years. Same music, same fireworks, same parade, same trick or treating.....Haunted Mansion did have a cool ghost outside this year....not sure if she was there last year or year before because we didn't go....and I can't speak for the shows or character meets because we never do them...kids not interested.

[Crow]

so gonna have to decide soon if its worth it. it would mean wouldnt have to use a day on our park tickets. hmmmm. maybe there will be a pin worth buying.

[NJGIRL]

so gonna have to decide soon if its worth it. it would mean wouldnt have to use a day on our park tickets. hmmmm. maybe there will be a pin worth buying.

Since you are two adults without kids I suggest you ditch the Disney Party and go over to Universal and do their party. You will be blown away and won't be sorry.

[Terra]

Since you are two adults without kids I suggest you ditch the Disney Party and go over to Universal and do their party. You will be blown away and won't be sorry.

I concur. Though personally I'm not a fan of Universal at all. I would spend the extra day/money at EPCOT doing the food/wine festival!
Love the MNSSHP with my kiddos, to see their faces light up!
But if it were just me, I'd hit something else as well.

[Hammer]

Since you are two adults without kids I suggest you ditch the Disney Party and go over to Universal and do their party. You will be blown away and won't be sorry.

I agree that I wouldn't do the Halloween Party unless you really want to see the parade if you don't have kids. Like Terra, though, I would use the money on Food and Wine. Universal's party is great, but only if you like the scary and/or gory aspects of Halloween. Personally, I have never liked this sort of thing (I still will not watch any of the Friday the 13th/Halloween movies), so that party would be wasted on me.

[Main Street Jim]

Basically the party has not changed in years. Same music, same fireworks, same parade, same trick or treating.....Haunted Mansion did have a cool ghost outside this year....not sure if she was there last year or year before because we didn't go....and I can't speak for the shows or character meets because we never do them...kids not interested.The parade and fireworks *has* changed a bit in the course of the time that I worked there (2001-2010). I know at least the Parade music has changed at least once, and the "line-up", for lack of a better term, has changed since we last attended the Party (in 2010); Goofy used to bring up the end of the parade; this year, it's the Villains. Captain Jack Sparrow has been added (since about 2007 or so). I know that the fireworks music has changed quite a bit as well since about 2007ish.

The "Hocus Pocus" Castle show was actually pretty cool. :) I'd *just* watched the movie on Wednesday night, because we knew it was something we wanted to see, but we'd never seen the movie until then. LOTS of Villains that you don't normally get to see - Dr. Facilier (from "Princess and the Frog") and Mr. Oogie Boogie (from "Nightmare Before Christmas"), among many others.


so gonna have to decide soon if its worth it. it would mean wouldnt have to use a day on our park tickets. hmmmm. maybe there will be a pin worth buying.No, you do NOT use a day of your "regular" park tickets. The Halloween Party is a separate-ticketed event, and does not require the "regular" day-guest ticket. You can get into the Magic Kingdom starting at 4:00pm with *just* your party tickets.

We flew down yesterday (Thu, 10/1) *just* for the Halloween Party last night, and flew back today (Fri, 10/2), after scoring a great deal on airline tickets. Didn't even buy a "park ticket"; only bought the Party tickets. We arrived in Orlando at about 9:30am, went to Disney Springs for a couple of hours, went back to our room to change for the Party, and enjoyed every minute of it. Our plan was:

4:00-7:00: hit up a few rides and visit with some friends, eat dinner in there somewhere at a quick-service place.

7:00-9:30ish: sought out characters that aren't normally out; we got pics with all seven dwarves at the same time; photos with Tarzan, Jane, and Terk in Adventureland; and our friend that we were with wanted to see Ariel.

9:45ish: got to the Hub for "Happy Hallowishes" fireworks

After the fireworks, we went over to Tomorrowland and rode PeopleMover.

11:00ish, got a spot for the second parade. It was actually a little more crowded than I expected for the second parade. At midnight (park closing), the last Castle show ("Hocus Pocus Spell-abration") took place, so we got out of the park around 12:30-1:00ish.

In between walking from rides to characters, etc., we hit up a few candy locations. Wife and I went as DreamFinder and Figment, and our friend dressed up as Ariel. Saw a LOT of Maleficents and Prince Erics...saw a couple as "Jolly Holiday Bert and Mary Poppins; they were so well-dressed that we were going to ask them for photos, until we saw that they were guests and not Entertainment Cast (they were pushing a stroller and had about three kids with them...)

Not a bad way to spend an evening. :)

[Crow]

ok...so ..have to decide if to do MNSSHP...using a disney bus. or try to get a mears shuttle to universal...

[forever a child]

We were also there for Oct 1st party. I have never been before and it was a lot of fun. We waited to see Jack Sparrow. We caught all the shows (first parade) and third Hocus Pocus show and it was full the entire time. I really loved the HP Show, it was actually my favorite part seeing all of the villains that you don't normally get to see. I wanted to see more characters but I learned on the trip that my niece is terrified of meeting them, so that put an end to that. We did ride Peter Pan and Mine Train during the party and maybe another one or two. I would not have normally done that but this was my nieces first trip and we wanted her to see those "must do" rides. Otherwise, I would have just done Mine Train and seen more characters.

Not sure if this is true or not, but a CM's was telling us that the Horse that opens the parade (5 minutes before start time you might want to know) does NOT have a rider at all on him. It is some kind of dummy that looks like a human sitting on the back of the horse. He is trained to run the route by himself. We missed the first time he ran through for the parade we watched but caught him for the start of the second parade. It was great!

[Main Street Jim]

Not sure if this is true or not, but a CM's was telling us that the Horse that opens the parade (5 minutes before start time you might want to know) does NOT have a rider at all on him. It is some kind of dummy that looks like a human sitting on the back of the horse. He is trained to run the route by himself. We missed the first time he ran through for the parade we watched but caught him for the start of the second parade. It was great!No, the horse does have a rider; however, it *is* very difficult to see out of the costume, along with the dark parade route. If the horse *didn't* have a rider and something were to happen (I've seen the horse slip on the wet asphalt after a rain before, back in about 2006ish; or, if something spooked the horse, like a camera flash or something), there wouldn't be anyone there to control the horse. Believe me, I worked plenty of parades. Up until about....2009<?>, the horse's name was Ike - one of the biggest horses at WDW - and *he* had run the parade route so many times before, that the "Horseman" had very little input into the horse's direction. Ike had run the Horseman route for about 12 years. He did indeed used to *run* (unless, of course, it was inclement weather), and his shoes would *spark* off of the pavement. He would even stop in Liberty Square (the only really logical location for the story of the Headless Horseman in the park), and get up on his hind legs and whinny - right at the turn from Frontierland to Liberty Square, and right by the Haunted Mansion! Talk about a *cool* factor!

But...yes, he does indeed have a rider.

And, if you Google "Headless Horseman at Magic Kingdom" images, you can definitely tell the difference when he's just trotting the parade route, or actually galloping faster.

In fact, here's a 2012 article from the Orlando Sentinel about a "very public fall" as the Horseman turned in Liberty Square on a "non-rainy" night: Horseman and Rider Fall During Halloween Event at Magic Kingdom (http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2012-10-10/news/os-disney-headless-horseman-20121010_1_disney-halloween-headless-horseman-mickey-s-not-so-scary-halloween)

[NJGIRL]

The parade and fireworks *has* changed a bit in the course of the time that I worked there (2001-2010). I know at least the Parade music has changed at least once, and the "line-up", for lack of a better term, has changed since we last attended the Party (in 2010); Goofy used to bring up the end of the parade; this year, it's the Villains. Captain Jack Sparrow has been added (since about 2007 or so). I know that the fireworks music has changed quite a bit as well since about 2007ish.



2007 was 8 years ago. I know that Crow was there more recently, I was answering the question for him specifically. I attended the very first party and have gone either every year or every other year since. Yes there have been minor changes throughout those years but basically it has remained the same format....much like illuminations. The music for the parade and fireworks hasn't changed in probably 10 years. Trick or Tricking is the same. The same attractions are opened every year....As I said we don't watch the shows or visit the characters so I don't know if there has been any changes in those.

[Melanie]

NJGIRL is right. Regarding the basics, it's essentially the same party it's been for years. Finally there was a change this year with the stage show, but still villains, and of course the addition of the HP characters.

Been there, don't that. It's way oversold and with nothing new worthwhile to draw me in personally, I'll gladly save that stack of bills. It's sad too, MNSSHP used to be my favorite hard ticket event, but not with the out of control crowds and ever rising ticket prices.

[Terra]

NJGIRL is right. Regarding the basics, it's essentially the same party it's been for years. Finally there was a change this year with the stage show, but still villains, and of course the addition of the HP characters.

Been there, don't that. It's way oversold and with nothing new worthwhile to draw me in personally, I'll gladly save that stack of bills. It's sad too, MNSSHP used to be my favorite hard ticket event, but not with the out of control crowds and ever rising ticket prices.

As much as my boys loved it and I'm glad I finally took them. I can't see us doing it every year. I'd rather spend the money on a nice character meal or experience for them.

[NJGIRL]

As much as my boys loved it and I'm glad I finally took them. I can't see us doing it every year. I'd rather spend the money on a nice character meal or experience for them.

I agree about not making it a yearly event. The only reason we have gone so often is because I always have a different nephew with us and it is brand new to them and they have always enjoyed it. Up until recently they have been too young for the Universal party.

IMO take the kids once because they will get a kick out of the trick or treating and the parade and fireworks are good....but then save your money for something else.

[Main Street Jim]

Been there, don't that. It's way oversold and with nothing new worthwhile to draw me in personally, I'll gladly save that stack of bills. It's sad too, MNSSHP used to be my favorite hard ticket event, but not with the out of control crowds and ever rising ticket prices.Oh, I'll certainly agree with it being *way* overpriced from years past, especially with no real "additions" to justify the cost. We only went down this year because of the *LOW* airfare we found online. :P

I do know in years past, ticket sales were limited to *about* 33-36,000, which is what a *good* summer-day crowd is at the park. I was certainly surprised this year to see so many people still in the park after the fireworks; usually, the second parade is a LOT less busy than the first one, but we had trouble finding a decent spot. We ended up behind people at the "corner" where the parade turns into the Hub from the Liberty Square bridge. Then, the last Hocus Pocus show was *right* at midnight, and the Hub was *packed* STILL. We took a friend of ours who had never been to the Party, but is a "veteran" WDW-goer, and even she remarked how crowded it seemed.

[debbymc4]

We attended on Friday, October 16. It was unpleasantly crowded. We did not make it over to get early spots for the parade and ended up in a bit of chaos. Cast members were almost hostile telling us to move out of a walkway even though we were surrounded on all sides with nowhere to go. I finally ended up in a spot where I put my 7 yo on my shoulders (not the easiest thing to do). He saw some of the parade, but the adults missed it completely. Then we were completely stuck in the crowd as it attempted to disperse, which it couldn't do. At one point, my son asked, "Are we going to die in Disney World?"

The ride lines were OK. Made it on Peter Pan in about 20 minutes. However, the walkways were just too crowded all night to be enjoyable. I was afraid I would get separated from my son. We won't do the party again unless we are there on an oddball weeknight...but I don't know how that would happen. A friend was there last Monday and she said it wasn't crowded.